They'd desperately needed some time out of the house without children, Elsie knew, but she wasn't quite up to late evenings yet. Maisie was teething, Marley was cluster feeding and thank Merlin Bentley was over the cold he'd had for the last few days. Els was exhausted, but a short afternoon out at the chocolate tasting wouldn't be the end of her. Plus she was immensely looking forward to some time alone with Tyb without wrangling children.

They'd left the girls in Mrs. Halliwell's capable hands while Ben was with her mother overnight. Elsie always felt a little guilty leaving all three of them with the nanny for extended periods of time, even though that's what she was paid to do. All three of them was a lot. Even when Elsie was home they divided them up to make things more manageable. This was only a couple of hours and Mrs. Robinson was there as backup if needed. She had talked herself out of feeling guilty about it just a few streets from the house. This was good for them all, necessary even.

Now her only focus was her husband and some of the delectable treats they were about to enjoy. "You must be thrilled," she teased him after they entered, arm looped through his comfortably. He'd always had a bit of a sweet tooth and so between getting out for a little while and a whole bunch of chocolate at their disposal, he likely had few complaints. Elsie wasn't quite such a sweets fiend, but she could certainly appreciate trying new things. And really, it was just to enjoy the time together; maybe she'd even have a glass of wine!